Is Hip Hop dead?
Back when I was a lad, there were lots of new sounds: hip-hop being one of them. In the 1980s, the glam rock sound was everywhere, and hip-hop was a radically different approach. At that time, hereit wasn't the billion dollar industry it is today, and call me cynical, but it seemed to have a lot more to say back then.
A good read can be had at here and it raises some interesting points:
"Back in hip-hop's heyday of the '80s and early '90s, some of the most popular groups were also some of the most vibrant - the militant Public Enemy, the uplifting Arrested Development, the stylistically abstract A Tribe Called Quest, and the teacher KRS-One. Despite different approaches, they seemed to be working together to speak about the black experience and create the melting pot that made hip-hop so refreshing and vital....
So what happened? How did rap devolve from its glorious past to what even some founders suggest is its least innovative period? One of the reasons for the nihilistic themes that dominate today's rap music, Stephney believes, can be traced directly to the rise of the crack epidemic in urban communities."....
Personally speaking, I find a lot of today's hip-hop bland and uninspiring - and don't worry, it's not because I'm an old fart, I'm still relatively young. Of course I don't think all of today's hip hop sucks - there is still some great stuff being produced, but that is for another article.
What dominates today's charts, however, has hardly has any of the social commentary or in-your-face lyrics that great acts such as Public Enemy used to produce. Today it seems, it's more about "bling" and "hoes", getting jiggy with it and a luxurious lifestyle. Then you have your typical gangsta rap, which focuses on the mean streets and hard criminal way of life. Neither genre has much to say these days, sadly.
Of course all musical genres have had a lot to say about sex, poverty and crime - it's nothing new. It's just that these days, hip-hop seems to want to communicate its message a little more crudely and crassly: in that everything has to be wrapped up in such a nice corporate, pre-packaged, marketing style. Hip hop and hybrid R'n'b tracks dominate today's popular charts. They are big business too, you only have to look at the top ten to see that today's youth are lapping it up. Gone are the boy-bands of the 90s, today that niche has been replaced by rappers and crooning R'n'b divas.
For myself, hip-hop was (and still is - in the right hands) a musical genre which changed the music scene and created a much needed alternative voice - and musically different nput - into popular music and culture. That said, what I see on MTV and Video Hits isn't hip-hop anymore, it has become something else: "pop-hop" maybe? Hopefully it's just a passing fad, and *real* hip-hop artists can oncemore reclaim the scene.
Get free email now!
